


Fish Tails Weren't Meant for Land

by oleanderflowers



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, M/M, Mer!Reds and Blues, Mer!Washington, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-05-14 20:25:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19280539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oleanderflowers/pseuds/oleanderflowers
Summary: Church is missing.They don't know how or where he went, but he's missing, and the Reds and Blues want to find him.Of course, this just has to throw them into an entirely new world with even more problems.





	1. Family

One thing that Tucker had learned from all the years he lived with his friends was that they were supposed to stick together. All of them. Even the Reds. They were like a family, and families were supposed to stay together. Besides, they all worked well together. Like chocolate and peanut butter. Or as Caboose liked to say, chocolate and peanut candy.

Of course, none of them had actually had chocolate or peanut butter. That was one of the downsides of living underwater all the time. 

Nevertheless, the Reds and Blues were supposed to stick together. 

So then why did Church go missing?

One day he was there, the next day he was just gone. There were no clues to where Church had gone, no leads or traces or anything. 

Like a family, they all searched for him. They went all around the island and even dared to swim up to the beach and check around. But there was no Church to be found.

It had only been a week, and Tucker was already imagining the worst. He could clearly picture Church in his mind. Sometimes Tucker would see cobalt flashes in the water and mistake it for Church’s tail. Sometimes Caboose would ask when Church was coming back, and Tucker would always smile and say that he’d be back soon because he would never leave his best friend behind. 

Washington had a different opinion. On this certain day, he insisted that Tucker went swimming with him. Once they were far from the others, Washington put his hands on Tucker’s shoulder.

“Hey, Tucker… We might have to come to terms with the fact that Church isn’t coming back. He might…” Wash trailed off and refused to meet Tucker’s eyes.

“Wait, you think he’s dead?! You want us to stop looking for him? Hell no! I know he’s still alive. I can feel it! Fuck you!” Tucker yelled. Washington guiltily looked down.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Then how did you mean it?!” Tucker didn’t even wait for him to respond. Instead he whipped around and began swimming away. 

Wash watched him go and sighed. 

 

After calming down a bit, Tucker felt bad about yelling at Washington. He was just so stressed about everything. Including his son.

Tucker tried to be the best dad to Junior, but it was hard sometimes without Church. Of course, Doc and Donut were great babysitters, but still, Church was always the one who would help Tucker with raising Junior. 

Church was Junior’s “Uncle Church”. He was the one who helped teach Junior how to use his tail and how to catch fish. 

Tucker sighed and began swimming back to home. About halfway there, he was confronted by a familiar terrifyingly large leopard seal followed by a blue-tailed Caboose.

Tucker swerved out of the way to avoid being swam into by Freckles, the horrifying seal Caboose had adopted. 

Caboose swam right up to Tucker and smiled. “Tucker! Did you find Church?” he asked, a strong sense of hope in his voice.. 

“I haven’t found him yet, but I’m sure he’s out there,” Tucker answered. He was about to continue when Washington approached them.

The sunlight filtering through the water made Wash’s grey and yellow tail shimmer. He smiled and greeted Caboose before looking Tucker in the eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I really didn’t mean it that way. Do you want to go up to the beach today and hang? Maybe we can see if there’s any clues as to where Church went.”

Caboose replied before Tucker could. “Yes! Agent Washingtub is taking us to the beach! Beach trip!” he exclaimed, his expression brightening. 

“Sure, why not,” Tucker answered. Washington smiled and began leading the way towards the island. 

The island of Invention had a surprisingly low population despite the island being relatively large. From what Sarge had told them (Tucker was pretty sure Sarge lived his entire life in the waters near the island), the main inhabitants were a group of people that were studying some things. Tucker would sometimes see them on the beach, talking to each other or looking around.

According to Wash, they all had state names except for a few who had the names of Greek letters. (The Reds and Blues had no idea what states or Greek letters were, so Wash had to explain that). Washington had been up to the beach the most, and had even crawled up on it. Of course, the beach he crawled up on was the beach on the far side of the island that is enclosed by trees and coves. 

Today was a day to take risks, as Tucker, Washington, and Caboose swam up to the inhabited part of the island. Caboose was insisting that they listen to the humans talk, for he wanted to see if they knew anything about Church. 

Tucker surfaced from the water and observed what was happening on the island. He saw two men sitting on one of the docks. One had brown hair and a blind eye while the other had blond hair. Tucker swam underneath the dock, followed by his friends.

“I’m telling you, Tex isn’t telling us something. She just disappears for days at a time to some random part of the island and then comes back and says she was just exploring,” one of the men complained. 

“Come on York, I’m sure that if something important comes up then she’ll tell us. Besides, we’re all a team. We were sent here for a reason, remember?” the other man replied. The two then began conversing about some kid apparently named Theta.

Tucker nudged Wash’s shoulder and whispered, “I guess you were right. They really do have weird names.” 

Wash smirked and replied, “Not as weird as Franklin Delano Donut.”

“But, Agent Washingtub, don’t you have a weird name too?” Caboose asked, not even trying to whisper. Tucker quickly shushed him, though the two humans above had most likely heard it.

“What was that?” inquired the one man, who Tucker concluded was the one named York. “You heard that too, right North?”

 Trying to be as quiet as possible, the three mermen ducked under the water and out of sight. “Caboose! You have to learn how to whisper  _ quietly _ !” Tucker scolded. His brown haired friend just looked at him with a confused expression. 

Wash put a hand on Caboose’s shoulder. “What he means is that you can’t talk so loud when we’re near humans, okay buddy? We don’t really know these people and we don’t know if they’d like us.”

Caboose looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, “Okay.” 

“We should probably head back now before Sarge gets suspicious and goes looking for us,” Wash decided. Tucker nodded and began swimming back towards the direction of the caves they called home. 

The entire ocean area around the island and underwater caves was full of memories. Some of those memories hurt now that Church wasn’t around. Honestly, Tucker just wanted to get home as quickly as possible and be with his friends and his son. 

Before reaching the caves, the three encountered Junior and Doc. As soon as he saw Tucker, Junior grinned and swam into his father’s arms. Doc swam up to them, running a hand through his dark brown hair.

“Hi guys! Where’ve you three been?” Doc asked, a friendly grin on his face. 

“We went up to the surface for a little bit,” Wash explained while Tucker fussed over Junior.

Junior looked up at his father and inquired, “Did ya find Uncle Church?” His brown eyes were wide with curiosity, his smile bright. 

Tucker gave the same answer he gave every time: “Not yet, buddy. But I know we’re going to find him. I promise.”

Tucker meant every word. He knew Church was still out there. He just didn’t know where.


	2. Invention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> York thinks about life.

Of all the things he planned for his future, York never thought he would be living on an island, protecting artifacts and merpeople. Yep, merpeople. 

Carolina and North had been the ones to talk York into the whole project. He had known them since college and maybe even had a crush on Carolina. That might’ve been one of the reasons he joined. Just maybe.

The two had shown up at his apartment one day, so York had invited them inside. That’s when they started talking about mermaids and mermen. It was not what York expected, and at first he thought it was a joke. Turns out that mermaids do actually exist. Life is weird.

The whole thing started when Carolina and Tex had been contacted by an organization called Chorus Conservation Program. It was run by some town who knew about the existence of merpeople and wanted to help out other mer-colonies. In fact, half of the Chorus population were merpeople, including one of the leaders, Vanessa Kimball. They lived side by side with the human population of Chorus, both sides working in harmony together.

Apparently, the island of Invention not only had a small mer-colony populating the waters, but also multiple ancient artifacts that could be used to learn more about the fascinating species. However, Chorus has its own enemy: Charon Industries.

The man who created Charon, Malcolm Hargrove, also knew about merpeople. Instead of helping them, he wanted to use them for money. Charon Industries was often trying to take Chorus’ merpeople and had even attempted to attack the town to take down the program. Of course, after learning about the island of Invention, Hargrove set his sights on not only the artifacts, but the merpeople.

Upon learning that all of his other state-named friends were in on this project too, York agreed to come check out the island. Hence why he was now here, sitting in the kitchen located at the house he shared with North, Theta, and Maine. He had a warm cup of coffee in his hand, and was conversing with his roomates.

“Tex better tell us what she’s doing or Carolina is going to lose it,” York remarked, staring down into his cup of coffee. 

North sighed, his eyebrows furrowing. “You’re really still upset about that?” He had that disappointed father gaze on point.

Maine signed ‘I agree with York’. Their conversation was cut short when Theta entered the kitchen, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Morning, kiddo,” North greeted his son. 

“Mornin’,” Theta mumbled as he sat down beside his father. He was still dressed in his pink and purple pajamas. York smiled at him and ruffled his hair despite Theta’s protests. 

York remembered when North had adopted Theta. It had been at least three years ago when North called York and told him all about how he had adopted a kid. When York had first met Theta, he instantly knew that the tiny blond kid would get along great with North.

At first, Theta was shy around York. North told him it was because Theta had some trust issues and was scared easily. However, it wasn’t long before the kid warmed up to him. 

North had insisted on bringing his kid to the island, and no one tried to stop him. Everyone was fine with watching Theta and bringing him along on adventures. He basically became the child of everyone there.

Living on Invention wasn’t without danger, though. Why else would Tex be going out for days at a time and refusing to tell anyone about what she was doing? She didn’t always go alone, though, as C.T would sometimes accompany her. 

Nevertheless, Carolina was pissed that Tex was hiding something from her. Whenever asked about it, C.T would say that she and Tex would tell the others “soon enough” and that it was just a two person job at the moment. Well, she had actually said three person job, though quickly corrected herself. York could only wonder what she meant by that. 

The main work York did on the island consisted of exploring different places and studying the artifacts and the water. It was like he was a scientist, except he didn’t have a degree.

The artifacts apparently were ancient mermaid artifacts that could help the humans learn more about this species. Chorus Conservation Program had requested for these artifacts to be studied and possibly even sent back to the town of Chorus. 

It was all so complicated, but hey, what else would York be doing? Why give up the chance to hang out with his friends and possibly befriend freaking merpeople. 

York was interrupted from his musings when Theta accidentally spilled the bowl of cereal he had just gotten. Theta met York’s gaze and ducked his head, mumbling a quick apology. York smiled and North reassured his son that it was fine. Maine went to go get cleaning supplies and he and Theta began cleaning it up with some help from North. York had never seen three people clean up one tiny spill before, but it wasn’t unusual. Everyone helped each other, even with simple things.

Hell, York would even go far enough to call his friends some sort of family. A very weird family, but a family nevertheless. 

He just hoped Tex and C.T weren’t up to something bad. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah Chorus is gonna come more important in the future


	3. Ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tucker feels like shit. Washington is being sneaky.

When Washington had first arrived at the place where the Reds and Blues called home two years ago, no one was sure what to think of him. He had traveled to many different places in the world and even knew more than Simmons did. He knew a lot about the closest mainland and even said he had experienced run-ins with humans.

Some of these run-ins had been interesting. Others had been dangerous. 

After Washington had befriended the others, Tucker wondered about the collection of scars littering Wash’s face, arms, and torso. When asked about it, the grey and yellow tailed merman would tell stories about humans who wanted to hurt him or other merpeople that were too territorial and aggressive. 

So now Tucker found himself wondering about what the humans up on the island would do if they discovered merpeople existed. Would they freak out? Would they be nice, or would they try to hurt Tucker and his friends? And what if they had something to do with Church’s disappearance? 

Tucker’s mind swam with questions as he, Wash, Caboose, Junior, and Doc met up with the other team. They were gathered outside the caves, and Sarge was attempting to create a plan on how to fight a giant shark. Lopez, Grif, and Simmons were standing in front of him, listening to the plan. Only Simmons seemed to be remotely interested.

“There’s no giant sharks around here, Sarge. You’re not going to be able to fight one,” Grif pointed out.

“Todo este plan es idiota.” [ _ This entire plan is idiotic.] _

“Why, yes Lopez, I will use my mighty shotgun to take down the shark!” Sarge exclaimed, pretending that he knew what Lopez was saying. The shotgun he was talking about was something he had stolen from land a long time ago. Even though it didn’t have any ammo and wouldn’t even work underwater, Sarge still thought it was the most badass thing ever.

“Sarge, your shotgun is literally useless,” Wash chimed as he and the others swam up to them. He crossed his arms expectantly, swishing his tail back and forth.

Sarge glanced at him and yelled, “Nonsense!” 

“Te odio pendejos. ¿Por qué incluso intentas responder si no sabes lo que estoy diciendo?” [ _ I hate you assholes. Why do you even try to answer if you do not know what I'm saying? _ ]

By this time, Donut had approached the group. Upon hearing the plan to fight a shark, he exclaimed, “Sarge, if the shark fights back, I’ll beat off on him!”

“Please stop,” Wash complained, face palming.

Tucker wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation. He was half distracted by Junior and half distracted by his thoughts. Junior had snuggled into Tucker’s arms and was fixated on the patterns the sun made when it shone through the water.

Ever since he moved into this colony with Church and Caboose all those years ago, Tucker felt at home. By the time they moved in, Simmons, Grif, Donut, and Sarge had already been living there. Thus further prompted the idea of there being two different “teams”. Doc had joined not too long after.

Then, four years ago, Tucker got pregnant with Junior. Why? Because life can never be normal and there was an incident involving some selkies.

At first, Tucker hadn’t been exactly happy about having a son. However, he soon grew to love Junior. Surprisingly, the others stepped up to help. Doc and Donut would babysit, Church would be another father figure, Simmons would do his best at teaching other things, Sarge would make sure Junior was always alright…

Hell, Tucker was glad he had the guys. Sure, they could be assholes, but they were still always supportive and helpful. Even Caboose was helpful with entertaining Junior.

Tucker’s mind was spinning and swirling with thoughts and memories. It hurt. 

“Hey, guys? I’m gonna go lay down,” Tucker told the others, letting go of Junior. He put a hand up to his forehead as Junior tilted his head, looking concerned.

“Woah, man, are you okay? You look a little sick,” Grif remarked.

“Yeah… I’m fine. Just got a bad headache.” Tucker quickly swam away from the others and headed to the part of the caves known as the Blue side. He entered the cave he called his room and rested there. His tail curled underneath him and he leaned against the wall, feeling the wet sand between his fingers.

“Shit,” he muttered as he let his head rest in his hands. He had to stay strong. For himself, for Junior, for Caboose, for Church. Things would be okay. 

Tucker dozed off into a restless sleep plagued with dreams only to be shaken awake a few hours later by Washington.

“What the fuck man? It’s late!” he exclaimed, pushing Wash away with his aqua colored tail. However, when he saw the blond’s panicked and rushed expression, Tucker asked what was wrong.

Washington bit his lip, running his hands through his hair. “So, I already told the others this, but after you left… I was out an hour ago listening to the humans’ conversations and—”

Wash was cut off when Tucker yelled, “You went back to the island without us?! And got close enough to the humans to listen to them?! What the fuck!”

“Tucker just listen to me! It’s not a big deal! We literally just listened to the humans this morning,” Wash pleaded, grabbing onto Tucker’s hand. “They know about us! They don’t know who we are but they know there’s merpeople living here! I think they did something to Church!”

The words hit Tucker like a strong current of icy water. His eyes widened as he processed the information.

The only thing he could say was, “Well, shit.” He let Washington lead him out of the caves and into the dark water. He must’ve slept for much longer than he thought as it was nighttime, and there was no moon in sight from under the water. Luckily, all merpeople have bioluminescent stripes on their tail that can light up, thus creating a secret mer language. 

With a few flashes from the yellow luminescent stripes on Wash’s tail and replies from the others, Tucker and Washington were able to find everyone else. 

“You’re still a dirty Blue, Washington. Sneaking out in the middle of the night? Suspicious,” Sarge said gruffly. Tucker was pretty sure Wash was rolling his eyes. The waters during moonless nights could get extremely dark, and it was mainly thanks to the bioluminescent stripes on their tails that the mermen could slightly see each other. 

“Alright, we need to do something about this,” Tucker pointed out, still shaking the sleep from his features. A quick glance around confirmed that Junior was back at the caves as he should be.

 “No duh,” Grif responded, looking bored. Simmons elbowed him.

“I’m going to go talk to the humans,” Wash bluntly stated. That got mixed reactions. 

“No way! That’s putting yourself in a lot of danger,” Simmons remarked, frowning.

 “Yeah,” Doc added, “and we don’t want a fight breaking out!”

Tucker glanced at Wash. “You’re not going by yourself, dumbass. We’re all going to talk to the humans. Tomorrow around noon, we are doing it. I don’t care if it’s dangerous. Fuck danger. We’re finding out if they know where Church is.”

Despite a few grumbles of protest, no one opposed Tucker. Caboose looked happy and once he, Tucker, and Wash were heading back to Blue Base asked, “Do you think the humans will want to be my friend?”

“I don’t know. We just have to hope for the best,” Washington said gravely. “I wanted to go alone in case something bad happened.”

“We’ll be fine. Besides, we have each other if anything goes wrong,” Tucker chimed, determination in his voice. They were going to do this. They were going to get Church back, no matter what.

* * *

Tex walked with a purpose. She never idly strolled; she always had a mission. She went back to the place her and the others set up houses, for she needed to get C.T. They had something important to do. Someone important to meet. Someone important to take down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad for the people who have to deal with me asking "Can mermaids cry?" and "Can mermaids wear glasses?"  
> Yay some plot movement. Neat.


	4. Coffee and Airplanes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Church sure is having fun on land.

When Leonard Church had woken up to seeing some blonde lady wearing a green baseball cap standing over him, he wasn’t entirely sure how to react. Seeing as the last thing he could remember was getting caught up in a storm, his first thoughts were that he was dead. Turns out that blonde lady was actually a human and Church had just washed up on land. 

That was a week ago. So much had happened in that short amount of time. The lady who found Church introduced herself as Texas (This led a conversersation of Church explaining that “Texas” was a weird name and Tex telling him that his name was just as weird). Apparently she and a few others had been sent to this island to study artifacts and protect the merpeople. Church was confused as fuck. 

The human world had taken a lot of getting used to, and Church still didn’t know what half of the things humans used were. Tex had explained some things, including the reason why she and the other humans were here. It had been a complicated conversation, as Church kept interrupting whenever she spoke of something alien to him. What he drew from their talk was that his friends were in danger, hence why he agreed to stay with Tex and help her.

Of course, they ran into some transportation problems. Church couldn’t just drag himself around everywhere, so the two discussed ideas. A wheelchair wouldn’t work and neither would a bathtub on wheels thanks to the rough terrain housed in the uninhabited part of the island. 

Their final option was to have Tex carry Church everywhere. It was possible, and looked like their  _ only  _ option. It was awkward at first, as Tex had never touched a mer’s tail before and Church had never been carried outside the water, but they both got used to it after the first day.

By the second day of being on land, Church’s knowledge of human objects had expanded even farther. Tex would take him around the island, occasionally bringing him to ancient artifacts that were made by merpeople. Church didn’t know shit about these artifacts, and he honestly didn’t exactly care. 

Around that time was when Church met Connecticut. Tex had brought her in one day, and she had freaked out over the fact that she was in the presence of an actual merman. The first thing Church noticed about C.T — or Connie, as Tex called her — was that she was much shorter than Tex. They quickly became friends and Connie would sometimes accompany them on their trips around the island.

Now having been on land for a week, Church was starting to get used to things. He still got in the water every day, though he was now used to the sun beaming down on his tail. In order to keep the sun out of his face, Church had stolen Tex’s baseball cap like the asshole he is. She at first protested but let him keep it on all the time, except when he went into the water. Church liked it, and he thought it looked good over his messy black hair. 

For the past couple of days, they had been tracking two people that Tex said were sent by Charon Industries, their so called enemy. One of these said people was a human. The other was a merman. The fact that a merman was helping humans hunt down other merpeople struck Church as odd. He often wondered if there was a reason behind it.

Tex had told Church that Charon was hunting down and collecting merpeople for a reason that she theorized as either money or personal research. Either way, some organization called Chorus Conservation Program had hired Tex and her friends to protect Church and the others from the grasp of Charon.   


It was exceptionally bright today, and the temperature was steadily rising. Church was already bitching about it, even more so than usual thanks to the amazing drink called coffee. Just that morning, while sitting together on a beach where the others didn’t go, Church had noticed Tex drinking the steaming hot drink she always has and decided that he wanted to have some. So the cobalt blue-tailed merman snatched the mug from where he was laying on the sand and took a sip. The coffee wasn’t too hot but was more bitter than he had expected. Nevertheless, it was fucking  _ good.  _

Tex had promptly taken her mug of coffee back and told Church, “Get your own, asshole.” The merman had replied by simply calling her a bitch and explaining that he couldn’t get his own unless Tex carried him back to wherever the hell she got the coffee from and made him some. Her response had been to give Church the finger.

Now the two were spying on the two people sent by Charon. The human one was in a small boat while the merman was half in the water and half leaning on the edge of the boat. From what he could see using some magnifying device called binoculars, the steel and orange clad human looked to be conversing with the merman. The boat was far off shore, so Church and Tex had to use binoculars from their position on one of the island’s beaches. 

Tex snatched the binoculars from Church’s hands, ignoring the glare the black haired merman shot her. “It’s odd. They haven’t made a move since they got here. They haven’t tried getting on the island, or making contact with one of the mermen from you colony. Something’s up,” Tex mused as she observed the Charon workers. 

Church turned his face towards Tex. “Does this mean we have to tell your human friends?” 

Tex sighed before replying, “I think so. I just hope the introductions aren’t too hard.” 

Church’s attention was diverted when a faint roaring sound came from up above. Looking up, he saw some flying object that he assumed to be the source of the noise. “Hey, Tex. What’s that weirdass flying thing up there?” he asked, pointing at it. 

“Oh, that’s an airplane. They’re used for transportation and shit like that,” the blonde explained. 

“No fucking way. Airplanes are real things? Caboose used to always tell us about airplanes and how he had a sister who wanted to fly one, but we thought that he was just making shit up!” Church was generally surprised, his eyes full of disbelief. 

“Well, you learn new things every day.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I brought lunch,” said a familiar voice from behind them. Church turned his head to see Connie standing there, a paper bag in one hand and a large bottle in the other.  She sat down in the sand next to Tex and handed her a sandwich from the bag before turning to Church and asking, “You want anything?”

“Nah, I’ll probably just go get some fish later if I’m hungry,” he replied, turning onto his back so he could look up at the sky. The sun was high in the sky, meaning it must be around noon. 

Tex and Connie ate in silence, sharing the water bottle between them. Eventually, the smaller brunette motioned towards the Charon workers in the boat and asked, “Have they done anything?”

“Nothing really. It’s not right,” Tex responded, “I’m thinking we might have to tell the others.” 

Connie whistled. “That’s going to be hard. As soon as they see Church they’ll start freaking out.”

“I know, I’m so cool aren’t I. Everyone will freak out because of how fucking fabulous I am,” Church joked. 

Tex rolled her eyes. “You wish. But yeah, Connie’s correct. This is going to be a shit show.”

Nevertheless, after finishing eating, Tex and Connie decided it was time to reveal Church to the rest of the humans. Church mumbled incoherently as Tex stood up and picked him up bride style. The black haired merman was used to being carried by Tex, and it was obvious the blonde didn’t mind. 

Connie followed them as they began making their way around the island, taking the same well used trail as always. About halfway there, Tex turned to her brunette friend. “Can you tell the others that I want them gathered together on the main beach in about ten minutes?” Connie nodded and went off ahead as Tex stopped walking. 

She and Church waited for a while before Connie came back, though she looked paler than usual. “They’re already at the beach… I think you need to come see what’s happening,” she told them anxiously.

“What do you mean?” asked Church. 

“There’s other merpeople there. And they’re demanding our help.”

* * *

Tucker wasn’t exactly sure how he and the rest of the Blood Gulch Colony were going to approach the humans, so the best plan seemed to be to just wing it and hope for the best. So all of them — including Junior, who had begged to come along and was finally allowed as long as he promised to stay in the middle of the group where he would be protected — swam up to the surface. With Washington and Sarge in the lead, they made their way closer to the beach. 

Upon inspection, the main beach was occupied by a small human child accompanied by a tall blond man clad in purple and green. The child was holding a brightly colored object in his hands and looked to be putting seashells into it. Standing a little bit away was the brown haired man whom Tucker recognized from the docks conversing with a redheaded woman. 

Wash took a deep breath before turning around to face the others. “I want you all to know that this could turn out badly. If anything happens, we will get away as fast as possible. Just try to stay together,” he said. 

“Today is a great day to die!” exclaimed Sarge, who had brought along his useless shotgun.

“ No vamos a morir, idiota.” [ _ We’re not going to die, idiot. _ ] Lopez looked relatively unexcited.

“Sir, are you sure it’s a good idea to bring along your shotgun? It might be seen as a sign of hostility,” Simmons pointed out. Sarge glanced at the nervous redheaded merman and explained how the shotgun would: “come in handy no matter what”.

“I agree with the nerd, bringing the shotgun isn’t exactly smart if we want to have a peaceful talk,” Grif remarked, ignoring the glare Sarge gave him. 

“I’m sure we’ll be fine!” Donut exclaimed from where the back of the group, where he had insisted to be because he would “handle their rears”. 

Eventually, they managed to convince Sarge to leave his shotgun behind. Washington continued to lead the group closer to the shallows.

The child noticed them first. He saw the group of mermen, saw their tails, and looked very surprised. He smiled and yelled, “Dad, Uncle York, Auntie ‘Lina! Look! Mermen!”

* * *

Despite knowing they exist, York never expected to meet a merperson. Or multiple. Yet here he was.

Of course, his first reaction to seeing a group of mermen was surprise. He whispered, “Holy shit, are those real mers?” to Carolina. The entire beach seemed to have fallen quiet; Theta was pointing excitedly, North was staring open-mouthed at the mermen, and Carolina’s eye was twitching. 

Carolina took a deep breath and approached the edge of the water, wading in slightly so that the water was lapping over her ankles. North had turned to York and kept asking, “You’re seeing this too, right?” Theta’s excited squealing caused Maine and South to come, and both were just as surprised.

York counted there to be at least ten mermen, and one was much younger than the rest. A heavy silence fell over the beach as the blond merman in the front finally spoke up, looking wary as Carolina approached him.

“Greetings, uh, humans. This is a little awkward… My name is Washington and this here is the Blood Gulch Colony. I was close by last night and just happened to hear,” the merman’s face flushed a bit, and York suspected that he had probably been eavesdropping, “some of you discussing merpeople.”

Another merman who had darker skin and an aqua colored tail continued by explaining, “Our friend went missing about a week ago and we were wondering if any of you had something to do with it.”

York turned as C.T approached the group, not noticing the mermen. “Hey guys, Tex wants all of you at the beach but I see you’re already here…” She trailed off as she spotted them. “Wait, why the fuck are there  _ more  _ mers here?”

“More? What do you mean by more, and I don’t fucking know!” South replied. Soon they were all arguing, and North was covering Theta’s ears due to the amount of swearing and yelling.

“Everyone shut up!” Carolina’s loud voice cut through the bickering, and everyone fell silent as she glared at them. “Maybe, if you all would stop arguing, we would hear what the mers want. Oh, and C.T, you have some explaining to do.”

C.T gave a guilty smile before quickly saying, “Sorry, I’ll explain when I’m back. Gotta go bye!” She ran back to the direction she came from. Carolina took another deep breath, as if she was trying not to get extremely pissed.

“Alright, so, I guess we should introduce ourselves. My name is Carolina. My friends and I were sent here to study the mer-artifacts located here and keep an eye on you all,” she explained to the mermen. “You say your friend is missing?”

The blond merman nodded. “I don’t think we’ve seen him but can you describe him?” Carolina inquired. 

“Well, he’s pale, he has black hair, somewhat blue tail,” the aqua tailed merman described. 

“He’s my best friend!” exclaimed one of the others, this one having curly brown hair and a large smile. 

The oldest of the mermen gruffly remarked, “He’s a dirty blue.”

“Oh, you mean like that one right there?” Theta was pointing towards the place where C.T had been. Standing there now was C.T, Tex, and surprise:  _ another  _ merman. Perhaps the weirdest part was that Tex was carrying the merman — who looked to perfectly fit the description of the one who’s missing. 

“S’up assholes!” The cobalt blue tailed merman held his hands out, not even holding on to the blonde carrying him. His eyes then landed on the colorful assortment of mermen in the water. 

“Son of a bitch.  _ Guys _ ?! What the hell are all of you doing here?!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow  
> This chapter was crazy  
> everyone's just freaking out over each other.


	5. Baseball Caps and Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has some explaining to do, and Church realizes why Carolina looks so familiar.

Church couldn’t fucking believe it. His dumbass friends confronted the humans for him. It was actually kind of sweet.

“Tex. Throw me in the water. Right fucking now.”

Tex obliged and made her way to the edge of the water. All of the other humans cleared a path for her. Church just kept looking at his friends, observing them, realizing how much he missed them. His eyes lingered a second longer on Tucker and Junior.

Without hesitation, Tex waded into the water and threw Church to where his friends were. She didn’t even take her baseball cap from him. 

“Holy fucking shit. You dick!” Tucker yelled, lunging forwards and hugging Church. All the others joined in on the hug, and Church found himself being smothered. “Uncle Church! You came back!” Junior exclaimed, grinning. Caboose was ecstatic and started rambling on about how things have been. Even the Reds expressed that they missed Church through Donut’s excited squealing and Grif’s remarks on how he left them for humans.

“Where the fuck have you been?” demanded Tucker after everyone had stopped hugging Church. 

“Listen, guys, it’s a long story. I know I’m an asshole for leaving all of you and not telling anyone where I went but please, just let Tex and I explain.” Church motioned towards his human friend, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“I think that’s a great idea. Tex sure has some explaining to do  _ right now _ ,” said the redheaded lady. Everyone was silent as Tex took a deep breath and began talking.

“Okay, everyone. The asshole I just threw into the water is named Church. About a week ago, I found him washed up on the far side of the island. Now, a few days before this, I noticed an unfamiliar man and a merman around the waters. I contacted Chorus about it and was told that those two were hired by Charon. Apparently Chorus has had some run-ins with them,” Tex paused, looking at everyone individually. Church glanced at the angry redheaded lady who looked oddly familiar and noticed that she had stiffened at the mention of Church’s name. He made a mental note to ask Tex who that was.

“After finding Church, I told him about why we were here. He agreed to help me protect his friends and see if he knew anything about the mer-artifacts. He didn’t,” Tex paused, staring at Church accusational. Hey, it wasn’t his fault he knew nothing about the stupid artifacts. “Then Connie found us, so we let her in on it.” 

“Wait, so you’ve known we exist this whole time?” Washington asked, his voice starting to become louder and raise in pitch.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Church interjected, “that’s the entire reason they’re here.”

“What the fuck?” 

“Well, we sure as hell never expected to see real merpeople,” one of the humans commented, looking at Church with curiosity.

Church turned back towards his friends. “I know I’m an asshole for leaving you all and I’m  _ sorry _ .” He was pretty sure he looked a little pained to be apologizing and owning the fact that he’s an asshole. “But apparently we’re in danger.”

“Ain’t nothing we can’t handle!” Sarge exclaimed. 

Donut nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! If anyone tries to hurt us, we’ll give them a real pounding!”

“Phrasing, Donut,” Grif muttered to his pink-tailed friend. 

“Right, okay, this is a lot to take in. First off though, I think we all owe each other some more introductions,” Washington said, his gaze sweeping over the humans. He sounded more stressed than usual.

One by one, everyone introduced themselves. Even the redhead, Carolina.

Carolina. The name sounded so familiar to Church. She  _ looked _ so familiar to him. He met her gaze and watched as her angry expression softened into a mix of confusion and recognition.

What the fuck.

Church shook his head, attempting to clear it from the confusion he was feeling. It was only until Caboose nudged him that he went back to paying attention to everything else.

“Church? Why is the scary lady you made friends with talking to Albany?” Caboose stage-whispered, pointing to where Tex was having a quiet side conversation with York.

“His name is York, Caboose. How’d you even get Albany and York switched up? You know what, why do I even question that.” 

Carolina cleared her throat, causing everyone’s attention to come back to her. “Alright, so we were contacted by a town called Chorus to help protect this mer-colony and the island’s artifacts. Now that you all know this, are you willing to help us help you?”

“If you’ll excuse us for a moment, we need to discuss this,” Washington replied. After Carolina nodded, Washington turned to the rest of the colony. 

“Hey Church? What’s on your head?” Tucker asked, curiously poking the baseball cap. 

“It’s called a hat. It helps protect your face from the sun or something like that. Tex lets me wear it sometimes. Anyways, go see what Wash decides or something. I have something to do.” Church was glad Tucker didn’t question him further.

Seeing as his friends were momentarily distracted with deciding what to do, he swam up as close as he could to Carolina, all the way to where the waves barely covered the sand. Some of the other humans glanced at him in confusion, and the little boy - Theta - watched him with a shy smile. 

“Okay, you look really familiar and it’s upsetting me, so who are you?” he demanded as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, tail curled underneath him in the wet sand.

She smirked, looking down at him with those sharp green eyes. “I was wondering when you would notice, Leo.”

One word. One word and he was suddenly overwhelmed with memories. 

“Oh shit. ‘Lina?!”

* * *

Ever since she was younger, Carolina loved the ocean. Her mother, Allison, always took her while her father was working. Carolina, only four at the age, would run around the private beach, gathering seashells and learning to swim in the lazy waves. 

One clear summer day, she had found something over than shells. She found a boy with a fish tail. A boy named Leonard Church.

Allison knew about merpeople and had met some before, so she certainly didn’t mind her daughter befriending one. In fact, she would carry Church to the pool at their house so he and Carolina could swim together.

Church was only a year younger than Carolina but was just as energetic. The two would spend entire afternoons swimming in the pool or ocean. Carolina was always wishing she could be a mermaid so she could breathe underwater like Church.

{ _ “Leo, can I become a mermaid?” _

_ “Nah. You’re not awesome enough,‘Lina. You gotta be as cool as me.” _

_ (She punched him.) _ }

Once, Church found out that Carolina was ticklish. He quickly learned not to tickle her though, as when he tried she punched him “accidentally”. The two were practically siblings, except one wasn’t meant for land.

Carolina was six when her mother died. Church hadn’t exactly understood, as when asked about his parents, he would say he didn’t remember them. Carolina’s father began to grow distant soon after Allison’s death, and Carolina found herself spending more time with Church than she did at home.

{ _ “Leo, why do you have the same first name as my dad?” _

_ “Dunno. Your dad kinda seems like an asshole, though.” _

_ “Well that’s fitting.” _ }

As Carolina grew older, she and Church would stay up late swimming together. Carolina would talk about school and life and Church would listen. He was an asshole, but he was still like a little brother to her.

Swimming at night was always intriguing. The water was warm, the night air cold, creating some sort of balance that Carolina loved. She could see underwater, but at night everything was a dark blur. It definitely wasn’t peaceful, though, as the two would always be arguing like siblings. 

{ _ “Leo, don’t you dare scare me while I’m underwater!” _

_ “Okay, whatever you say ‘Lina.” _

_ (He then proceeded to swim through the water and scare her, which earned him a punch.)  _ }

Carolina was thirteen when her father decided they were moving. She didn’t take the news well.

Church found her that day, on the beach, punching the wet sand and crying into the waves. He had crawled up on the beach as far as he could without assistance, hating how the sand scraped his stomach and tail uncomfortably. 

{ _ “Hey, what’s wrong?” _

_ “Dad says I have to go, Leo. He says I can’t stay. I don’t want to go! I want to stay with you, in the water!” _

_ Carolina wrapped her arms around Church, burying her face against his shoulder.  _ }

Carolina never said goodbye, as Allison always told her not to. Instead, she left the next day with one final wave to Church.

Her father made her promise to never tell anyone about Church. Eventually, Carolina moved on. She found friends in the city she moved to, went through high school and college, and got to where she was today. She never forgot Church, though. Floating around her thoughts would always be memories of a little boy with a fish tail.

Church, on the other hand, would live alone in the water. He cherished the moments he spent with Carolina, but began to forget soon after a certain aqua-tailed merman befriended him. He went on with his life, finding new friends, pushing the memories of a little redheaded girl named ‘Lina to the back of his mind.

Until all those memories resurfaced now.

* * *

“Tex? Are you listening to me?” York asked, jolting the blonde out of her thoughts. She refocused her attention back on him after one last glance towards Church and Carolina hugging. Or at least, she  _ thought  _ it was hugging. Carolina looked like she’d never hugged someone in her life. She’d have to ask Church about what all this was about.

“Sorry, was distracted,” Tex said, her shoulders slumping slightly. She didn’t feel defeated  ( _ nothing _ could defeat her), but she did feel a bit off-put. Everything was happening faster than she’d like. Maybe she’d get to punch someone soon.

York shrugged, “It’s fine. I just asked if you thought the mers would help us. They sure are an interesting bunch.”

“Funny for you to say, York.”

“Ah, there’s that signature Tex smirk,” Connie chimed, stepping into their conversation. She stood next to York, one hand on her hip, a sly smile on her face. York chuckled, eliciting an eye roll from Tex.

“To answer your question, those fuckers better help us. I better not have had to put up with Church for no reason.” Tex surveyed the mermen quietly talking (well, only some of them seemed to understand the concept of being quiet) as she talked.

She just hoped she was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the really late update! I haven't given up on this!  
> Anyways I love the sibling relationship between 'Lina and Church  
> Also the best part about Caboose referring to the freelancers as the capitol names is that he doesn't even know what a state is, let alone a state capitol.  
> Just imagine Tex carrying Church bridal-style around everywhere while he refuses to give her hat back.


End file.
